Israeli Medical Students Abroad Will Not Receive Government Aid

The Israel Ministry of Education announced today it would no longer provide financial assistance to Israelis studying medicine in other countries.

The Ministry noted that the Hebrew University School of Medicine was graduating 70 doctors annually for a country with a ratio of physicians to population which was among the highest in the world: Israel has one doctor for every 420 persons.

The Ministry said that under these conditions there was no need to assist medical study abroad. A special committee of the Ministry of Health, which had recommended the action, reported that the standards of the Hebrew University medical school were higher than those of many of the overseas universities where Israeli students are studying.